W. HOCKEY | Tough tests ahead for Elis

After a tough trip to the North Country last weekend, the Yale women’s hockey team returns home for a much-needed homeweekend as Harvard and Dartmouth come to town. Two tough losses, including a 2–1overtimeloss to the Golden Knights Friday night, dropped the Bulldogs out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the ECAC.

Though Yale will be happy to be back at the Whale for this weekend’s series, the Crimson and Big Green are more than capable of ruining the homecoming. Dartmouth (12–8, 8–6 ECAC Hockey) downed the Bulldogs in the two teams’ last meeting, and sits in a tie for third in the ECAC. The Big Green are coming off three straight wins, and feature goalie Lindsay Holdcroft ’14, named the ECAC’s Rookie of the Week last week.

Harvard (10–7–2, 9–3–2 ECAC Hockey) is second in the conferenceand topofthe Ivy League. In the teams’ last meeting inCambridge, goalie Jackee Snikeris ’11 got knocked out with an injury, and backup goalie Erin Callahan ’13 stepped up to hold the Bulldogs in it and muster a 3–3 tie for Yale’s first point at Cambridge since 1986. Adding intrigue to what is already Yale’s most heated rivalry is the presence of sophomore Whitney Kennedy on Harvard’s roster —sister of Yale defenseman Aurora Kennedy ’14, who scored the Bulldogs’ only goal last weekend.

That game-winner was Kennedy’s first career goal, and, along with Snikeris’ 70 combined saves, one of the positives that came out of last weekend.

“Moving forward, we need to have better energy in practice and everyone needs to do a better job buying into the team’s systems,” another defenseman, Heather Grant ’12, said after Saturday’s game. “If we can do that, then hopefully we can score some goals and be more successful next weekend.”